PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION: RESPONSE TO FRENCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000176 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NP/FM - AMB GUHIN; DOE FOR OFFICE FISSILE MATERIAL DISPOSITION E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2014 TAGS: FR TRGY MNUC PARM ENRG SUBJECT: PLUTONIUM DISPOSITION: RESPONSE TO FRENCH PROPOSALS ON DRAFT MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT - LETTER DELIVERED REF: SECSTATE 4595 Classified By: EST COUNSELOR ROBERT W. DRY FOR REASONS 1.4 B, D ¶1. (SBU) On January 10, EST Counselor delivered Ambassador Guhin's letter and talking points contained reftel to Veronique Vouland, Deputy to Francois Richier, and Sebastien Jaunet, both in the Sub Directorate for Disarmament and Nuclear Non-Proliferation. (Messrs. Dahan and Richier were both unavailable.) In response, Vouland and Jaunet remarked that the French government also considered useful a meeting with the U.S. to discuss the French proposals and revisions to the draft Multilateral Agreement provided in response to U.S. concerns. They related that a French internal meeting had been held earlier in the day to identify possible dates for such a meeting. They felt that a meeting well before the February 2-3 MPDG discussions would better suit French needs. Thus, they would prefer a meeting date either on January 21 or early in the week of January 24. (Although early in the week of January 24 was not one of the dates discussed in the French internal meeting, Vouland and Jaunet thought that date would be workable.) They seemed indifferent whether the meeting took place in Washington or Paris. Embassy recommends Washington agencies provide a proposal for meeting time and venue for either January 21 or a date early in the week of January 24. ¶2. (C) Jaunet said that the French side also wanted to exchange views with the U.S. regarding 'Cost Group' issues at the bilateral. He said that Ambassador Guhin had circulated a 'road-map letter' containing evaluation of program costs and that the Russian side had prepared a document on the same subject. The French had found the Russian paper "not very encouraging." Jaunet concluded by remarking that the plutonium disposition program was a key GOF priority which received high level attention and the GOF seeks to work closely with the U.S. on assuring its success. At the same time, he said, there is not the same level of comfort with the Russian approach. Thus, the French need to proceed cautiously to protect their technology. Leach